Speaker ends attempt to gag MPs' expenses

Michael Martin, the Speaker of the House of Commons, has abandoned a legal bid, costing taxpayers £150,000, to keep secret a detailed breakdown of MPs' expenses.

The Commons' members' estimates committee agreed last night it would not appeal against a ruling by the high court ordering publication of the detailed expenses of 14 prominent MPs.

The court ruled on Friday that the Information Tribunal was right to demand MPs publish details of claims made under the additional costs allowance. The tribunal acted after a series of requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

The decision last night means that the detailed breakdown of the 14 MPs, among them Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Menzies Campbell, will be published with receipts by 4pm on Friday.

The details of all other MPs dating back to 2004 will be published in the autumn. There will be more than a million items because it will include detailed receipts of 646 MPs covering their expenditure on furniture, household bills, cleaning and repairs, mortgages, rent and the disclosure of MPs' private addresses. The addresses of some MPs will be blanked out for security reasons.

The three high court judges left little room for an appeal: "We have no doubt that the public interest is at stake. We are not here dealing with idle gossip, or public curiosity about what in truth are trivialities. The expenditure of public money through the payment of MPs' salaries and allowances is a matter of direct and reasonable interest to taxpayers."

The Commons authorities had argued releasing such information would amount to "a substantial unlawful intrusion" into lives of MPs and families; it will be released for journalists and for information campaigners Heather Brooke, Ben Leapman and Jonathan Ungoed-Thomas who applied under the information law.